ProRail and Strukton Rail today signed the contract for the daily maintenance of the railways in the Drenthe area (Netherlands). This area combines two former maintenance regions (Overijssel and Drenthe) and covers approximately 475 kilometres of track and more than 450 sets of points.

The maintenance contract takes effect from 1 June 2011 and will start with maintenance in the Overijssel sub-region. The Drenthe sub-region will follow on 1 December 2011. Strukton Rail will devote the months ahead to preparations, such as setting up the maintenance processes and implementing various systems.

Infrastructure provider ProRail is putting new-style maintenance contracts out to tender in the Netherlands. These contracts for daily maintenance and repair are output-driven. Drenthe is the fifth maintenance contract in this style awarded in the Netherlands. 'Output' is the core of these so-called PGO contracts; the maintenance contractor is granted greater freedom to decide on the method and time of work. The aim is to comply with the requirements in the fields of safety, availability and sustainability.

A goal-oriented contract of this kind dovetails well with Strukton Rail's maintenance philosophy, which focuses on safety, life-cycle management and optimal availability. Strukton Rail has always invested heavily in the development of innovations aimed at preventing faults and increasing availability. The POSS monitoring system, the video inspection train, measurement and inspection trains and the linked maintenance management concept are examples.

Earlier PGO maintenance contracts that were won by Strukton Rail include the contracts for the De Peel region (January 2009) and the Rijn & Gouwe region (December 2010).

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